From April through October, millions upon millions of Americans have eyes and interests focused on what many term our national game — baseball.

In 2018, many game nights find more than 5,000 fans packed into the comfortable seats in Community Maritime Park to witness play by the Blue Wahoos. Thousands more would be linked by TV to their favorite Major League team. Afternoons, young Pensacolians will play games in Little League, in high school and college softball, and baseball contests. Pensacola may be said to be typical of communities across the nation. People love to play the game and to watch the performances. However, all of this leads to the question: How did all of this begin, and then develop?

Late 18th century tales tell of British men playing rounders and cricket, each with ball and bat and plenty of running. By 1830, stories were recording American play using primitive balls and sticks, but with no true field uniformity. Then, in 1845, easterner Alexander Cartwright is credited with developing a game with slightly better equipment and the formation of the game itself. However, Cartwright’s team, the New York Knickerbockers, operated on an open field. It would be another five years before the baseball diamond took form, with foul lines, and a pitching system, with three strikes you’re out and three balls you walk. A foul ball was just that; it was a strike, and one could not be called out on a foul.

Cartwright’s team played its first game on a marked field against the New York baseball team on June 19, 1845, in Hoboken, New Jersey. Cartwright’s team lost 23-1.

The passage of years — through the Civil War — saw teams formed informally in many places, and games with military were often played during fighting lulls. Next came teams formed by towns, cities, large businesses, all non-professional, with nothing approximating a league.

But then, in 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings were established. This was a professional team, and its members played a sizable number of games against the informal players. A year later a new organization formed called the National Association of Professional Baseball Players. Players were formed into nine teams, in large- and medium-sized northeastern cities. However, these games attracted gambling, use of alcohol and other unpleasantness, thus after five years this association was disbanded.

In 1876 the process was reformed, led by player, manager and owner A.G. Spaulding, whose Chicago White Stockings were one team. New rules now were in place, and practices on the field formalized. Now four balls produced a walk. Spaulding formed a company to produce much finer equipment (gloves, uniforms, balls), and another company began manufacturing quality bats. The number of players in a game was set, and the eight-team National League proceeded successfully.

However, other leagues were forming as well and in this time it became common practice for a team owner to woo key players away from other teams, through cash offers and other incentives. Across the country (largely the east and Midwest) there now were the Western League, the Player’s League and more.

The playing fields and grandstands gradually improved. In 1900, wealthy men with a sports interest formed the basics of a second league with firm rules. The American League was born.

Owners in the two leagues installed new financial civil rules, to halt pirating. In 1903, the champions from the two leagues played the first World Series, where Pittsburgh beat Boston 4-2.

In Pensacola, professional ball began on a formal stage in 1927 with formation of the Pensacola Pilots, a team with a Major League affiliate, and with the new Legion Field for its game sites.

And so it began and has soared with the years. Pensacola has seen professional performances with different names, different Major League links, and with presence of players who became true stars.

John Appleyard is a Pensacola historian and writes a weekly historical column in the Pensacola News Journal. His 15-minute films about Pensacola are viewable, without-charge, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. In The Cottage, 213 East Zaragossa Street.